Control apparatus for airplanes



July 25, 1 939. 5,.k6sT 2,167,077

CONTROL APPARATUS FOR AIRPLANES Filed- Nov. 3, 1936 "M wMm-w' "Patented 193 9 many, assignor to Siemens :Apparate und Maschinen G. m. b. 11., a corporation of Germany Application November s, 1936, .Serial N6. 102L985 In Germany November 7,1935 f My invention relates an apparatus for the speed combined and position control of aircraft by the. altitude rudder by means of a gyroscopic apparatus whichmea11res 'thealongitudinal in- .5' clination. oi'the aircratt, the elevator being adiusted by hand or automatically through a hy- :draulic or. any othenauxiliary motor An object of the invention: is to control the longitudinal inclination ot the aircraft in accordance' with the speed; This is accomplishedaccording to the invention by the tact that apart of a control device actuated by the gyroscopic apparatusis displaced by a speed responsive device till the gyroscope support and therewith'the aircraft has assumed alongitudinal inclination corresponding to the desired. speed without therebychanging the inclination of the gyroscopic apatus.1 In oneiorm of embodiment of the invention one part of the control device isdisplaced'by the A speedresponsive device in the manner that the latter actuates a reversing motor-.. In this case, it is necessaryto maintain the adjusting'speed at a comparatively low value in order to avoid oscillations such as rolling of the craft. To this end,

a reduction worm gear having a high gear ratio is between the reversing motor and the I control device of the gyroscopi'c apparatus.

'Ihe'ngure o! the drawing is a diagrammatic ila. lustration ot'the mechanism.

' Further details of the invention will be apparent'irom the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which is shown a gyroscopic horizon employed as 3| aninclinometer.

.Refernngto the drawing, l denotes a gyroscope driven in any suitable manner and 2 is the axis or rotation thereoi'. The gyroscope i is mounted in a casing} which'is supported lna Cardan a ring 8 by means of trunnions 4. A horizon disc 1 and an-airplane niodel I serve to'indicate the position or the. gyroscope. Rotational movements of the gyroscope about trunnions 4 which are parallel to the direction of flight are imparted to 4 the disc I by means ofa crank Q while rotational movements about the trunnions 8 produce up! ward anddownward movements of the airplane 'model I which is firmly secured to the Cardan ring I through ll." Adiaphragm ll iirm go 1y secured to the trunnion 8. serves to control an fair stream issuing iromthe. two slots arranged I on the 'top' of a nozzle I 2. The air created preferably by a telephone diaphragm (not shown) energined-jby alternating current.

, 7 i8 and l4 areresistors ted bya 'battery I I and a contact lever 4 33.

arranged 'inbridge connection with the windings of a rotary magnet I 5. Il1 addition to the gyroscope l, a gyrosoopic turn indicator I! is provided as a i'urther measuring device which is so mounted "in -the airplane as to indicate the angular I speed of the rotational movement of the airplane about its transverse 'axis. The rotary magnet l6 v and the gyroscopic turn indicator l'l cooperate Y through a system of levers l8, I9, 24, 2|, 22, 23 A and 24 witha control slide valve 25o! a servo- '10 'motor 26 to actuatean elevator 28 through a piston rod 21,

29 is a Pitotstatic tube which influences a 'diaphragm 3! arrangedina casing 30 in a direction,

opposite, to the a-c'hon of aspring 32.. The dia- 15 phragm cooperates with contacts 34 through The contacts 34 are arranged on an arcuate gear 35 which meshes with aworm 36; The worm 38 is operated by a handle I 38 through a spindle 31,,the handle moving over 20 a scale 39. The contacts 34 and contact lever are connected through conductors to a reversing motor 40 which drives a reduction gear consisting of twoworms 42 and 44 and two worm wheels-43 and 45. The reduction gear is connected through 25 a shaft 48 to a worm 41 which in turn meshes .with an arcuate gear 48 firmly secured to the nozzle l2. A handles" attached to the shaft. 48 may, when actuatedto disconnect the reduction ear with the aid of a sliding coupling a atewiththewormflalson 1 i During'normal flight a certain angle oi'attaclr- A j of the airplane corresponds to a certain speed of o flight. Since, however, the gyroscopic horizon has the tendency to remain always in the true ver '35 tical, this angle of incidence correspondsto a .certain position of the nozzle l2. This means that at a certain speed of the airplane, the nozzle I 2 must vbe so positioned that the diaphragm llflrmly secured to the trunnion 6 covers sym- 40 metrically the slots from which the air stream -issues. Thisnozzleposition is controlled in the embodiment shown by a speedometer which operates astollows. 1 4

A pressure corresponding to the actual speed ot the airplane is imparted .to the diaphragm ll.

by means of the static tube 29. The speed or the airplane is adjusted .at the contacts 34 by the handle 34 and scale I! through the spindle 31 and worm 36.. In this case the scale 39 so 50' calibrated that when the desired speed adjusted thereon corresponds to the actual speed measured by the static tube, the arcuate gear is so pontioned that the contact lever ll actuated by the II not conic into engagement 5;

with either contact 34. If now the actual speed of the airplane varies, the lever 33 comes into engagement with the one or the other contact 34. The reversing motor is thus energized and actuates the arcuate gear 48 and, therefore, the nozzle I! of the gyroscopic horizon through the reduction gear. In this position, the diaphragm ll does not any longer obstruct the entire air stream issuing from the nozzle l2. The resistors l3 and I4 comprising part of the bridge connection and heated by the battery I5 are differently cooled, which causes a change in resistance and,

remains always in the true vertical, before the speedometer is influenced by. an increase or decrease in speed. i

The reduction gear designed for a high gear ratio as is required for the normal automatic control presents, however, a great disadvantage ii'fia sudden change in speed or inclination is necessary. Toremove this drawback the handle 43 is provided. Should, for instance, the pilot desire to attain another speed as quickly as pos-, sible, he adjusts the nozzle I2 with the aid of the handle 49 through the shaft 46, thereby eliminating temporarily by means of the sliding coupling 50 the control action of .the pilot-tube through the reduction gear. The elevator will then be operated in the above-described manner. If the airplane .has attained another speed, this speed is adjusted on the speedometer by means of the handle 38, whereupon the speedometer maintains the speed at aconstant value.

The above-mentioned sliding coupling may, of course, be replaced. by a differential gear or the like. Furthermore, it is evident that instead of employing the bolometer in connection with the gyroscopic horizon any other suitable arrangement may be employed.

I claim as my invention:

1. Apparatus for controlling the speed and position of an aircraft, comprising an elevator, a

'- servo-motor for" actuating said elevator, means responsive to the longitudinal inclination of said craft, means responsive to. the rate of inclination '01" said craft, means responsive to the speed of saidcraft, and a 'two-.part control device for conparts being trolling saidservo-motor, one of said parts being actuated by said inclination responsive device and the other part being controlled by said speed responsive device, said rate responsive device differentially cooperating with said two part control to regulate said servo-motor.

2. Apparatus for controlling an aircraft, comprising an elevator, a servo-motor for actuating said elevator, means responsive to the longitudinal inclination of said craft, means responsive to the speed of said craft, a two part control device for controlling said servo-motor, one of said actuated by said inclination responsive device and the other part being controlled by said speed responsive'device, and manually operable means for disconnecting one of said responsive devices from said two part control.

3. Apparatus for controlling an aircraft, come prising means for controlling the attitude of said craft, power means for actuating said control means, means responsive to the longitudinal inclination of said craft, means responsive to the speed of said craft, a control device for controlling said power means, said control device being differentially actuated by said inclination responsive device and said speed responsive device, and manually operable means for disconnecting one of said responsive means and directly controlling said power means. a

4. Apparatus for controlling an aircraft, comprising an elevator, a servo-motor for said elevator, 'means responsive to .the longitudinal inclination of said "craft, means responsive to the speed of said craft, a two part control device, one

of said parts being connected to said inclination responsive means, motor means connected to said other part, a manually operable disconnecting means between-said other part and said motor means, reversing means in the control circuit of said motor means, pivoted nieans actuated by said speed responsive means cooperating with said reversing means, and means for controlling the relative position of said reversing means and said pivoted means whereby .the speed at which said reversing means is inoperative may be varied.

5. Apparatus for controlling an aircraft, comprising an elevator, means for controlling said elevator, means responsive to the speed of the craft, means actuating said controlling means,'

and means including step-down gearing connecting said speed responsive means and said actuating means for gradually applying the effect of said speed responsive means whereby oscillations of said craft are prevented.

PAUL EDUARD K6STER. 

